Somewhere in Nimbasa City, in the early morning two days after Team Matrix attacked the abandoned amusement park, an alarm went off in Geist's head, and he awoke at once. His eyes snapped open, his senses calibrated, and his body whirred to life. And as he reached up to pull a cord out of his neck, he looked about the room, processes whirring in confusion until his silicon brain settled on the notification that had pulled him out of sleep mode. Moments later, Geist stormed out of the pokémon center, ignoring the startled nursing Companion he nearly bowled over en route. In his head, he had already summoned a map of Nimbasa. He wasn't at all surprised to see a number of tiny red dots flashing close to its edge. Tiny red dots that all matched the poké balls of novice trainer Door Hornbeam.
Door did not see any of this, even though she was the cause of her partner's panic. To be fair, she was too busy watching Knives drive a liepard into the ground.
The liepard squealed both mechanically and with the recorded scream of its real, living counterpart before falling still on the pavement beneath Knives's glowing, pink fist. As soon as her prey fell still, Knives stood tall and smiled at her trainer, and Door walked forward and inspected her audino's work. As she stared down at the battered and broken fauxkémon, Door's mouth circled the straw of a large iced coffee and sucked up another sip, rattling the ice at the bottom of her plastic up enough to break the silence. Once she swallowed down her drink, she pulled the straw away and licked her lips.
"Not bad," she said. "Man, Knives. A fully evolved pokémon, and you took it out in, what, only a few hits? Not bad at all."
She reached down to rub the spot between Knives's ears. The rabbit squeaked and twisted, pressing her head into Door's hand. Door pulled away and wandered a few steps down Route 16 with her lips around the straw again. She chewed the straw's plastic tip in thought as she gazed out towards the field of grass. Already, trainers were starting into the prairie, jumping off the road and into the wild far behind Door. She, meanwhile, had left early, after only a few hours' worth of sleep, and as far as she was concerned, it was worth it to avoid the rush. Door narrowed her eyes at the masses pulling away from Nimbasa's entrance to flood the fields, and she wondered how many of them would be facing Elesa soon.
"Come on, Knives," she said as she took her first steps forward. "Elesa told us to get as far as Lostlorn Forest. Might as well go see what's over there." Clamping down on her straw, she huffed and muttered, "Hopefully some peace and quiet."
But just as she turned to leave and just as Knives trotted forward to catch up with her, Door heard a menacing, feline growl, and she stopped, her lips contracting around the straw in response to the low hiss. Slowly, she turned to look over her shoulder, then cried out and stumbled out of the way of a violet and cream blur as it flew past her. Knives shrieked as the liepard she had supposedly defeated leapt onto her and tackled her to the ground. Its muzzle twisted in a fang-filled snarl, and one of its paws rose and extended three-inch-long just a short distance from Knives's face. Knives squealed and instantly swung one of her hands up to block the liepard's attack, and for the next half a minute, the liepard could only yowl and push against its prey.
And then, without thinking twice, Door threw a poké ball. The ball smacked the liepard in the back of the head, sucked it inside, and dropped to the pavement beyond Knives's shoulder, and she scrambled to her feet and swung her fist up in preparation for another Secret Power. Almost as soon as she had, the ball exploded, and the liepard dove at Knives with a howl and all of its claws extended and aimed at Knives's face. But as the liepard came in, Knives ducked and swung, slamming her fist into the cat's chest. The liepard shrieked and flew backwards, back into the pavement, crashing down harder than it had a moment ago. Shakily, it stood, its body sparking as it flashed its eyes at Knives.
But Door was there first. Taking a step forward, Door pitched a second poké ball. The cat howled and turned to run, but the ball hit it in the shoulder, cracked open, and sucked it in. This time, Door's poké ball dropped to the ground, where it shook once … twice … and three times before falling still with a ping.
Door waited for a few seconds, her eyes glued to the ball for any sign of movement. But when nothing happened, she exhaled with relief., took a sip of her coffee, and snorted at Knives.
"Geez, talk about catty, am I right?" she asked with a wink.
As if in response, the ball flashed with a brilliant, white light and vanished. Door and Knives swiveled their heads back towards it, just in time to see it go, and for the next minute, they stared blankly at the empty space the ball had once occupied.
Finally, Door groaned.
"Oh. Right. I'm carrying six live pokémon," she muttered. "Crap."
Knives cocked her head and trilled inquisitively at her trainer, and Door gave her an almost apologetic look before starting down the road again.
"Uh, not that you'd get it because you're a pokémon and all, but lemme see if I can explain it," she said. "Long ago, old, probably white guys decided that trainers can't carry more than six pokémon. I don't know why. Grandma or Dad probably explained it, but frankly, I wasn't listening. The point is, if a trainer caught more than six, those extra pokémon needed someplace to go, so an old, dead guy and my aunt, Lanette, invented a way to store them on the internet using forbidden black magicks or something. I might not have been paying attention to that either. Long story short, Liepard's safe but uploaded to a computer. Understand?"
The noise Knives made in response indicated to Door that she did not.
"You know what? Never mind," Door said with a shrug. "Come on, girl. Onward to Lostlorn Forest!"
And with that, she trudged on, leading her audino along the relatively short path to the entrance of the forest.
Or "forest," as the case may have been. The field and copses of trees she had hiked through to chase down her new liepard were all artificially planted, not that anyone would be able to tell at first glance. The greenery had been placed just randomly enough to look natural, and the winding paths between them were covered with grass at just the right height to look wild. But all of it came up to the straight, paved road too neatly and stopped too short in the distance to be real, and that was what bothered Door. It was a nice gesture, now that she thought about it, to have something that at least looked wild, even though she knew there were Companions hiding among the trees, just waiting to plant new growths or water the ones already there.
But the point was that it was a nice alternative to Lostlorn Forest.
Which didn't exist.
She had seen pictures of the aftermath. Way back when, Lostlorn Forest was the closest point to the Entralink: a small, wild scar that thrust up into the border between the rest of Unova and the dreamlike wilderness. And then, the Entralink collapsed in on itself, and Lostlorn Forest felt the shockwaves. The last pictures Door had seen of the place depicted a wasteland framed neatly by a chain-link fence.
Truth be told, she wasn't particularly looking forward to going there, especially with just her pokémon. Door would have liked some human or humanoid company as she traversed the wilderness … but she couldn't take Geist. Not after the night she had just gone through. She needed time to herself to think, to take out all her aggression and frustration on whatever hapless wild pokémon crossed her path.
And besides, Lostlorn Forest was a wasteland. A tiny, gated one at that. What could possibly be inside that she would need his help on?
The trees and grass gave way abruptly to a sandy plain. Door pressed onward, through the tree line and onto a dusty road. She walked, trying her hardest not to be bothered by the heat or dirt, as she focused solely on the gate yards ahead.
In front of it was a small, wooden booth, barely large enough for any human to comfortably sit for hours on end. When she approached, the door on the side opened up, and a figure in a tan security guard's uniform stepped out. It looked like a soldier at first, tall and heavily built, in a crisply pressed shirt and pants and recently shined boots. But as she got closer, she realized this was just a security guard—one built like a football player on steroids.
Literally built. The man was apparently a Companion, judging by his glowing, blue eyes.
Door hesitated barely a yard away from the gate. She swallowed hard as she looked at the Companion and the booth beside him. There was no sign of any human being there. Just the booth that, from her vantage point, she realized contained just a generator, a chair, and a recharge cable. Door mentally kicked herself at the sight of both the Companion and the contents of his station. Of course the gate would be unmanned. Having a Companion there meant no need for supplies, no need for monitoring, no need for waiting around for communication. So long as this Companion had very clear, very simple orders, he could operate without supervision for months on end, with no breaks or changing of the guard. Heck, she was sure he didn't even use the rickety chair in the booth. He must have stood in front of his station twenty-four hours a day, just waiting for trainers who wanted to get past his gate.
So it was understandable that Door was both put off and intimidated, even just slightly. She took a deep breath to steady herself and thought her situation through again. Best case scenario was that Elesa had phoned ahead and told this Companion or his superiors that Door would be coming and that she should be let in. Worst case scenario was that Door would end up snapped in half by the Companion's massive hands. She had to be careful. Diplomatic. Smooth.
Door walked up to the gate, planted her hands on her hips, and gave the guard as cool and calm a look as possible. She could do diplomatic and smooth.
"Yo, what's up? Door Hornbeam. How ya doin'?" she said.
The Companion looked at her for a long moment, his eyes never dimming or wavering. And then, he held out his hands, palms out, holographic pads exposed.
"Present your trainer's license for identification," he intoned.
His voice was robotic. Even-toned. Expressionless. Door hesitated. She knew he was one of the Companions who didn't have much in the way of a personality core, which meant she had no guarantees that the worst case scenario wouldn't be happening.
With that in mind, she cracked a nervous smile. "Uh, yeah, don't have it."
The Companion's palms snapped shut, and he lowered his arms. His hands balled into tight, massive fists that rested at his sides, in plain view of Door. She glanced down at one of the Companion's fists and realized that his fist was literally half the size of her head.
"Only registered trainers are authorized beyond this point," the guard told her. "No license, no entry."
"Okay, but I was sent here by Elesa, the gym leader of Nimbasa City," Door said. "She told me I could train here. Isn't that good enough?"
The Companion frowned at her, but it wasn't like a human's shift in expression. It almost looked like something in his face dropped, as if he was a marionette puppet whose strings were released abruptly.
"No license, no entry," he repeated.
Against her better judgment, Door took a deep breath and clasped her hands together. Leaning in, she mustered up everything she had within her to give the guard her best puppy dog eyes.
"C'mon!" she begged. "Can't you just call Elesa and confirm that I'm allowed to be here? Please?"
The Companion stomped forward. Door flinched, startled by how quickly the machine had come to a decision. He picked her up by her shoulders, lifting her off her feet and holding her at arm's length. Knives responded with a squeal, followed by latching onto the Companion and biting him in the knee. He didn't seem affected by it as he carried Door several meters away from the gate. There, halfway between the gate and the trees, he set her down, then pulled Knives off his leg by the scruff of her neck and dropped her on the ground in front of her trainer.
"No license, no entry," he repeated.
He turned and walked back to the gate, where he whirled around and stood, hands folded behind his back. Door blinked a few times, then grit her teeth and folded her arms.
"Can you believe musclehead over there?! What a prick!" she shouted. Then, lowering the volume of her voice, she glanced at Knives. "Don't worry. That's a chain link fence. You know what those are, right?"
Knives—who had, shortly after being deposited unceremoniously at Door's feet, blinked away her rage—stared up at Door with a tilted head and an inquisitive trill. Smiling broadly, Door gave her the thumbs up.
"It's a poor but fantastically climbable barrier between well-meaning youths like me and places that shady adults like gearhead over there say we shouldn't go," she explained. "Which means I've got a plan."
She took no fewer than three steps before a hand grabbed her shoulder roughly. Stopping short, she looked up, directly into the face of her Companion. Geist glared down at her, stony and serious, before sliding his hand down to her wrist and jerking her forward.
Door's voice caught in her throat. She wanted to say something—either to ask what Geist thought he was doing or to acknowledge his quiet rage and beg for his forgiveness—but she couldn't. She could only follow him as he pulled her roughly towards the gate. Geist said nothing. He kept his eyes focused on the guard ahead, and whenever Door had a chance to glance at him, he kept his lips pressed together and his face tight. Even Knives, who was padding quietly behind them with soft hums, knew better than to stop the Companion. Geist was on the warpath for reasons Door couldn't figure out, but she knew in every fiber of her being that she was the reason for it.
It was only when they were within feet of the guard that he spoke, after stopping and pulling Door to his side.
"I apologize for the actions of my assigned trainer, whatever that might have entailed. My name is Series Alpha Zero-One, unit name Geist. This is my partner Door Hornbeam of Nuvema City." He lifted his hands and held them, palms out, pads exposed. "Here are my registration credentials and her trainer's license. I hope this will be sufficient for entry."
The guard lifted his own hands and leveled the exposed pads of his palms with Geist's. Beams of light flashed between them briefly, and then, the guard snapped his panels shut and reached for his temple. Dropping his other arm, he stepped to the side while the gate banged and whirred open.
"Catch or battle whatever you wish. Do not interact with dream bubbles. Do not climb the back fence. You have one hour. If you do not return to the main gate within that time, a search party will be contacted, and you will be detained if they succeed in retrieving you," the guard recited. "Understood?"
Door glanced at Geist. "If they succeed in retrieving us?"
"Understood," Geist responded evenly, without bothering to acknowledge Door.
"Then you may proceed," the guard replied. "Good luck, trainer."
Geist reached down to grab Door by the wrist, then led her into Lostlorn Forest. Knives followed behind, and they continued up the path until the gate closed behind them.
The inside was worse than the dusty field between the trees and the gate outside. There was almost nothing there, save for an entire forest of twisted, naked trees that stretched their black branches to the sky. Between them, the only other thing of note was the ash. Even decades after the collapse of the Entralink, white ash covered the spaces between trees like fallen snow, blowing up in drifts to reveal pockmarks and craters where there once were clearings and brush.
"Whoa," Door breathed. "It's…"
She looked back at Geist. At the very least, he was no longer glaring at her. Instead, he was standing still, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.
And suddenly, Door felt guilty.
"Oh. Um." She rubbed the back of her neck and tore her eyes away. "Look, I … you're probably waiting for me to apologize."
Geist tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows with a puzzled wince—as if Door had just said something incredibly stupid, and he was trying to figure out how it was possible for her to be that stupid.
And at that, she groaned in exasperation. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't leave you behind because I wanted to ditch you or anything! I just…" She lowered her hand. "I just needed some time by myself. That's all."
Her Companion raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"Yeah, that's so!" Door exhaled sharply. "Look, I know we keep clashing, but I know that I need you for this … whatever I'm on. It's just … after last night, I just needed some time to think."
"And you couldn't think with me around?" Geist asked.
"No," Door answered. "It's … it's a human thing. Sometimes, we just need some time by ourselves, okay? I know that sounds like an excuse, but it's not. I swear."
After a few seconds of silence, Door looked up to see Geist walking towards her, his eyebrows still furrowed. Pulling his arms apart, he extended one hand towards Door. She flinched, willing herself to stay still until she felt something come down with a pat on the top of her head. As soon as she felt that touch, she opened her eyes to see Geist standing inches from her, his hand on her head and his face leaning in close to hers.
"I know you're being honest because you're a terrible liar," he said.
He flashed a grin at her and winked, then pulled himself away. Walking ahead, he folded his hands behind his back and lifted his chin, and in the shadows of the ash-covered forest, Door could see a blue light flicker from his eyes. Glancing back at Knives, Door shrugged, then signaled for her pokémon to follow, and the two of them trotted up to the Companion's side.
"So, uh, about the whole … morning," she said.
"You caught a liepard. Impressive," Geist replied.
"I—how did you know?" Door asked.
He gave her a strange smile. "Door, I've got a direct connection to your storage system account. How did you think I found you in the first place?"
"Oh." Door winced at her own stupidity. "Right."
"In any case, yes, I forgive you," Geist said. "Largely because I know it wouldn't do much good to tell you yet again why you need to stop running off without me."
Door snorted and crossed her own arms with a pout. "Come on. At least this time, I wasn't doing it because I hate you or anything."
"I believe you," Geist replied. "But was it worth it?"
"Up until Big McLargehuge tried to kick me out of this place," Door grumbled as she narrowed her eyes at the path behind her.
"Terpsichore units," Geist replied. "Designed for security, military, and similar functions." He flashed a grin at her. "Very obedient but … built to be large and strong, to put it as gently as possible."
Door snickered at that. "Wow. You do have a sense of humor somewhere in there."
Geist shrugged. "I never liked Terpsichore units myself—our mutual friend, Starr, included. They're not particularly interesting. Urania units such as Opal, however, at least those can hold a conversation." He eyed her. "But that's not what I meant by asking you whether or not it was worth it. Did you have time to think?"
"You know that's an expression, right?"
"Of course I know. I'm simply offering a listening ear, should you want one." Geist shifted his gaze to the path ahead of him. "Last night was a long one for the both of us, after all."
Door stumbled at the revelation of something important. In all that time, Oppenheimer had answered—or darted around—several different questions at once, but looking back on the conversation she had endured with him, she realized the man had outright ignored one particular issue. And now that Door thought about it, that issue should have been just as important as her purpose in their plan.
That issue was, of course, a simple one. Where was Geist's place in all of this?
Or, more specifically, what they were looking for in his memories?
"H-hey, Geist?" Door asked.
He didn't turn around, but his voice softened, as if he knew what she was about to ask. "Yes?"
"How much do you remember of last night?" Door said slowly.
Geist stopped. He studied her, his eyes still glowing eerily, but Door didn't look away.
"I'm sorry, Door, but I was in sleep mode for most of that encounter. I don't remember much at all," he admitted.
She shook her head. "No, it's-it's not your fault. But, uh, does that mean you don't know what Magdalene was digging into?"
Taking what sounded like a deep breath, Geist reached up to press his fingers to the side of his head. "No, not exactly. I was just as disturbed as you were when I realized what had happened. I have logs of her attempts to access my memories, but what's strange is she didn't spend much time at all in my memory core. It was as if the second she discovered my LFA core, nothing else mattered." He removed his hand. "Not that her time was well spent after that point. The LFA core is under heavy encryption. Even I can't access its contents. And according to my access logs, that record has yet to be broken by anyone other than Dr. Fennel."
Door had gone silent during his explanation, and it wasn't out of politeness. She stared at him blankly for a few seconds after he had finished, her mind struggling to grip one important detail.
"Your … LFA core?" she asked.
"Ah, very observant of you," Geist said.
He extended a hand to her, palm up. Twitching his fingers, he let the panel slide open and his holographic projector flicker to life. Between them, a screen appeared, displaying what looked like the generic outline of a man. Door squinted, staring at the three spheres within it.
"I don't know much about myself or what sort of data I contained prior to my time with Dr. Fennel, but I do know that the only file I could access on my local drives was a user's manual—not the usual kind, either," Geist explained. "For starters, this is an extremely simple blueprint of my core configuration. Notice anything odd?"
Door stared at it, but it didn't take her long at all to figure out what he meant. Even though she took no interest in Companions before her journey, she knew the absolute basics. Including the minimum number of cores a Companion was supposed to have.
"How do you only have three cores?" she asked.
"Digital, memory, and the LFA," Geist replied. "I don't know exactly, but I've had time to develop theories in the few years I've been active. I think the LFA was a prototype core that combines the personality, morality, and emotion cores into a singular cognitive engine. It may be why I'm able to emote far more accurately than any other Companion; I don't need to go through the same cross-checking other Companions face. It's all done in a single core, rather than across three."
He closed his hand, shutting the projector off abruptly. Door fixed her eyes on his closed fist as questions boiled in her brain.
"But … it works," she said. "I-I think."
Geist put his hand on his hip. "I think so too."
She lifted her chin to stare into his eyes. "But then why use the five-core system? Wouldn't it make sense to just use the LFA core with the digital and memory?"
"It would be more efficient, yes," Geist said. "And it seems to work better than the five-core configuration."
"But?"
"But I don't know. Neither does Dr. Fennel. She knows I have three cores, and she's tried to ask your grandmother why, believe me. But … no one has ever explained to her why Lanette didn't implement this system in any other Companion."
Door frowned. "And … that doesn't bother you?"
Geist slumped his shoulders and threw his hands up in a resigned shrug. "Of course it bothers me. At the very least, not knowing how or why I work the way I do means not knowing whether or not I'm truly stable. I could catch fire for all I know, or I could be heading straight for a motherboard failure a few years earlier than the standard units. The less I know about myself, the more I have to worry about how long I have before everything that makes me who I am right now breaks."
He paused to give her a steady look. Door froze, unable to tear her eyes away, as she waited for his next words. And when those words came, they were slow, low, and quiet.
"The truth is," he said, "the only reason why I'm calm about it is that some things are inevitable. Even Companions aren't meant to last forever. The whole point of existing is doing what you can with what time you have. And I intend on doing something good." As soon as her Companion finished, Door felt her expression shift. Her jaw opened slightly, and her face relaxed, right into a sympathetic frown. Then, a few seconds later, she pulled her gaze away and frowned at the base of a tree.
"Wow. Geist, um…" She trailed off with a hard swallow.
In return, he chuckled. "You know, this is the first time you've been this interested in what my thoughts were since we were in the Striaton City pokémon center."
Door scowled now, her face burning with an embarrassed blush. "Well, it's important, isn't it? If Team Matrix is after you and all."
"They're after you as well," Geist replied. "They need someone to summon Zekrom and Reshiram, remember? It's true that Hilda and Rosa hold them both, but we can't say for certain that Team Matrix knows that."
At that, Door nodded weakly. "Um … yeah. That's true."
"Right. So it's imperative that you be prepared for anything." Geist turned his gaze back to the forest and brought a hand to his temple. The blue light in his eyes brightened as he scanned the spaces between the trees. "That said, Door, let's start with finding something you can bat—"
"Do you remember anything about my great aunt?" she interrupted.
With a jolt, Geist whirled back around to face her. He raised his eyebrows at her in surprise, but the quickness and steadiness in his next words told her he was telling her the complete truth—that he wasn't shocked by her question but rather caught off-guard by its very existence.
"No," he said. "I was wiped clean before I came to live with Dr. Fennel, remember?"
Door frowned. "So … you don't remember anything about my great aunt sinning or something?"
"What?"
"You know," she said. "Did my aunt … do anything bad?"
Geist regarded her carefully. She watched as the blue light in his eyes flickered, as digital circles contracted and expanded within his iris—as he, quite literally, analyzed her. Yet somehow, that didn't bother her as much as it had two days ago. She didn't think of him as human—and she thought she might never get to that point—but something about him was different. Separate from other Companions. Relatable and alive.
She lingered on that in the silence. It was silly, but that was the best way she could think to describe it. Geist seemed too alive somehow, in ways she couldn't put her finger on.
"Door," Geist said at last. "I may be biased when I say this, but as far as I'm concerned, your family has never done anything wrong. Your great aunt strove to make this world a better place by filling it with wondrous inventions right up to her death, and your grandmother has done everything she could to keep Lanette's dream alive."
Taking a deep breath, Door let his words sink in. "But how do you know?"
Geist frowned. "I just know." He tilted his head. "Is that what was bothering you?"
"Great detective work, Mr. Supercomputer."
Smirking, Geist reached out to lay a heavy hand on his partner's shoulder. "I see. I think I'm learning a lot about you, Door Hornbeam."
"Yeah, I'm not gonna ask you what you mean by that," Door said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Spot any pokémon?"
Finally returning to his usual, professional attitude, Geist dropped his smile and shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Nothing except Knives, who is—"
He lifted his eyes towards a spot between the trees, and as soon as he did, horrified expression swept across his face. Without warning, he grabbed Door's wrist and bolted, half dragging and half leading her along the forest path. She cried out and gave him an earful of choice curses, but when she realized he wasn't about to stop, she focused completely on following him instead. Her feet slammed painfully into the ground, one after another, and her muscles burned with exertion not long after they had started running. Door was never one to consider herself in good shape, but this went beyond physical limitations due to poor health. Geist was full-tilt running in his panic. To Door, who had no choice but to stumble behind him, that run hurt, but she knew it meant something.
Namely, something was wrong. That much was obvious. But it took a second to register that the wrongness was directly associated with Knives, and Knives herself was nowhere to be seen—not by human eyes, at least. Where was Door's audino? What was going on?
And then, Geist stopped at the edge of a clearing. Door plowed into his back, but with a twist of his waist, he reached up to catch her. Steadying her, he nodded towards the center of the clearing, and Door raised her head to follow his gaze.
In the center of the space was Knives, standing with her back towards Door. Her fuzzy, white tail was twitching in curiosity, and the rabbit stood on her toes, stretching up to reach an object above her.
That object was a glowing, pink bubble.
"Dream bubble," Geist breathed.
Door swallowed. She didn't need any further explanation. Everyone knew that Lostlorn Forest was practically the gateway to the Entralink; it was the last point before the outer ring separating the park from the rest of the region. And as such, it didn't strike Door as surprising that Lostlorn Forest was devoid of either people or fauxkémon. No one came that far out. It was too dangerous, a place reserved only for ready trainers.
And she was staring at the reason why: an escaped fragment of the unstable Entralink. One that Knives was, at that very moment, reaching for with one paw.
"Knives!" Door screamed. "Get away from that thing!"
The rabbit turned, fixing wide eyes on her trainer, but as she did so, her claws scraped the bottom of the bubble. Behind her, the bubble rippled at her touch, pulsed, and floated higher. It expanded with a hum as a pink light ebbed from within it. Geist pushed away from Door and dashed forward, faster than she had ever seen him run. He hurtled across the ashy clearing and snatched Knives from the ground, then rushed back towards Door. With his free arm, he grabbed her too, and with both the human and the pokémon in his grasp, he ran for the trees.
Unfortunately, he wasn't as quick as he needed to be, and just before he dove back into the forest, the bubble exploded.
To Door, the entire world shifted into a perfect ocean of rose-colored light. A booming hum, low and vibrating like an alphorn, filled the forest and made her ears ring. The sound permeated her body, shaking her bones until she could feel nothing at all. Before she knew it, she found herself swaying on her feet, with Geist standing in front of her. One of his arms was still holding Knives, and although Door could see the rabbit silently screaming and clawing at her ears, she couldn't register it or its significance. Geist's other hand was on Door's shoulder, and his face filled the rest of her field of vision. His mouth was moving, but for the life of her, she couldn't make out his words. Not until the light faded, anyway. After that, she realized Geist was shouting at her.
"Door? Door! Pull yourself together!"
She shook her head and blinked. The ringing in her ears finally subsided, and the world came back into focus.
"What … what happened?" she murmured.
The answer to her question came in the form of a choir of pops. Geist slowly turned around, and Door looked beyond him, in time to see a soft, pink fog of light shifting behind them. Bits of the fog pulled off with each of those pops, only to fall to the ground and form small lumps of pink. The lumps shook and scurried, climbing up trees or fanning out along the ground until they filled the clearing to the brim.
And then, all at once, they shook off the pink light that obscured them, and Door and Geist found themselves face-to-face with a swarm of venipede. A swarm of angry, chittering venipede.
Geist drew his arm in front of Door and reached into his pocket for his pansear's poké ball. "Okay," he said. "Stay calm and move slowly. If we take things easy, then perhaps—"
The venipede stretched their mouths open and emitted a deafening screech, shortly before rushing for the human and her Companion.
"Plan B!" Door said, whirling around. "Run away!"
She sprinted. It wasn't her finest moment, but with a swarm of venipede chasing her, she figured no one would blame her if they knew. Behind her, she could hear the pop of a poké ball opening, followed by a monkey's screech and the roar of fire. Insectoid squeals followed, peppered with bangs and pops, and out of the corner of her eye, Door could see orange light and pink smoke dancing off the trees.
Before she knew it, Geist was at her side, running just fast enough to keep up with her.
"Door, what are you doing?!" he demanded. "Send out your pokémon and fight!"
She stumbled and skidded to a stop, then whirled around to face the swarm. Antares was hanging upside-down from a branch a few feet away, and flames shot from his mouth into the venipede. Beneath him, Knives stood, ears twitching in anticipation.
"Are you kidding me?!" Door barked.
"Are you?!" Geist snapped. "You came here to train, did you not?!"
That statement hit her like a hammer. That was right. She had. And if Knives was ready to face off against countless venipede, then…
"Knives, Dig!" Door yelled.
As Knives obediently dove into the earth, Door plunged her hands into her pockets and drew out the first two poké balls she grasped. Tossing them into the air, she didn't think twice about what they might have contained, but she prayed silently that one of them was Storm. She knew that her tranquill would make quick work of the venipede, just as she had made quick work of the Castelia Gym.
But, just as it had been with everything else those past few days, Door's luck had other things to say on the matter. And as such, what appeared before her was not a bird but rather a squat, doll-like creature and a spirit clinging to a golden mask.
Door cursed. Loudly.
"It's okay! You can still use them!" Geist shouted. "But first—Antares, Incinerate!"
A few venipede had, in the time that Door's darumaka and yamask took to the field, approached Knives's burrow. Antares stopped them from going any further by spewing fire onto them, then fanning out his attack to the swarm just a few steps away. And as she watched, Door clenched her jaw, took a deep breath, and nodded.
"Okay," she said. "Fine! You can do it, guys! Boomer, Incinerate! Red, use Night Shade!"
Without a word of acknowledgment, the darumaka, Boomer, instantly rolled past Knives's burrow, into the swarm of venipede, and there, he twisted upward and sprang to his feet, startling several venipede into stopping. He turned, pirouetting on his claws as he exhaled a stream of brilliant flames. The fire engulfed the venipede closest to him, then branched out and swallowed one bug after another.
Above him, his yamask partner, Red, took a moment to nod back to Door before gliding through the air gracefully towards his opponents. A pink glow enveloped his body, and as he swooped up and out of reach of the insects, a rosy light burst from his form in pulsing, angry rings. Each ring slammed into a different venipede, drumming them into the ground before the fires of Antares and Boomer consumed them.
And then, Door felt Geist nudge her in the side.
"Be ready with a poké ball. Knives should complete her attack shortly," he said. Then, turning back to the fight, he added, "Antares! Try your new technique! Flame Burst!"
Door blinked at her Companion, then fumbled in her pockets for an empty ball. She watched Antares swing backwards and cup his hands around his face. A brilliant, orange glow swirled between his palms, forming a ball that quickly grew to the size of his head.
And then, Door noticed that her pokémon were in the way.
"Red! Get some altitude and fire off another Night Shade!" she ordered. "Boomer, just get back!"
As new as they were, her pokémon understood and, luckily, were obedient. Without even a glance to his trainer, Boomer dove backwards, beyond Knives's burrow, to a safe spot on Door's side of Antares. Red gave her a short, uncertain glance, then glided up gracefully, trailing pink light as he moved. Just as Red fired off another round of vibrating, pink rings, Antares released his ball of flames, straight down into the crowd of venipede. The ball of flames sailed cleanly through the pink rings of energy and exploded into the ground, sending fire, white ash, and spiritual gusts into the undulating mass of bugs. Venipede screeched as the fire rolled over them from the center of the crater, as more and more of their brethren found themselves caught up in the raging inferno. Door flinched and turned away, and as she moved, she felt Geist wrap an arm around her and hold her steady. Opening her eyes, she saw him glare down at her, bucking his head towards the chaos.
The fire wiped out many of the venipede, but there were still many more, waiting in a wave for the snowy ash to fall and smother the flames. It took a few more moments for the blanket of soot to settle back down onto the field, and after that, the inferno died down to embers. Just as the flames subsided, the first of the venipede started forward, rushing quickly for Door and Geist.
It didn't make it halfway across the field before Knives suddenly erupted from beneath its feet, and as soon as she did, Geist elbowed Door hard. But Door already knew what she had to do, and the second the venipede began to drop, she threw her poké ball as hard as she could. It struck the bug's carapace with a crack, then swallowed the insect and dropped onto the ash. As it rolled across the field, the button on its face blinked—first with bright flashes, then dim, lazy ones, until it faded completely the second it came to a rest at Door's feet. A moment later, just like the liepard's poké ball, the venipede's vanished into the storage system.
Door let out a triumphant whoop, but she was cut off quickly by another elbow to the ribs. Glaring up at Geist, she saw him shoot her a look before glancing at Knives. The audino kept her eyes fixed on the venipede, which hesitated in reaction to the capture of one of their own before charging forward again.
"Knives, get back!" he called. "Door, Knives is no good here! She can only use physical attacks; you need distance!"
"I know!" Door snapped back.
"Good," he said. "Then follow my lead! Antares, use Yawn on as many venipede as you can!"
Knives scampered to Door's side with a series of squeaks. As soon as she was out of the way, Antares cupped his mitten-like hands around his mouth and blew pink bubbles from his lips. The storm of bubbles flowed towards the reforming cluster of insects and popped one by one in the faces of the closest venipede. These venipede stopped in their tracks, causing the ones behind them to slam into one another. The ones that managed to stop themselves from crashing skittered onto the pile of venipede and emitted loud, piercing screams that made the air vibrate. Almost all of Door and Geist's pokémon slapped their paws over their ears and cried out, only to have their voices quickly drowned by the venipede's Screech. Only Red hung in the air, seemingly unharmed by the assault. More venipede swarmed around the pileup and lifted their back stingers, arcing them over their bodies as each took on a bright, violet glow. Then, a volley of purple needles shot from the sea of stingers, straight for the pokémon on the other side.
And then, Red swooped down, arms spread and hands unfurled, and a green barrier of light flashed to life before him. The rain of pins struck the barrier with a rush of pings and bangs, but the shield held firm, right up to the last strike. Red shifted, pulling one of his arms back to let the barrier drop.
As soon as it fell, his eyes took on a violently red glow, and he thrust himself forward, to the frontlines of the venipede. There, beneath him, the first several venipede struck by Antares's Yawn trembled, their eyes fighting to stay open as the ghost approached them. Fixing his gaze on them, Red brought his arms in front of himself and swung his body back, and a black wave of energy pulled itself from his face and into his palms. He spread his hands, fingers splayed as the dark orb grew. When he could spread his arms no further, the ball between his palms shifted, and a crack laced across its equator. Both halves of pure, black energy parted, revealing a demonic, red eye in the center of the orb.
Finally, Red released. The ball, eye and all, rushed down at the horde, trailing black energy as it went. It slammed into the first few venipede, and these venipede instantly exploded into puffs of pink smoke. The rest of the attack washed over the surrounding venipede, blowing the stronger ones backwards and blasting the weaker ones back into the Dream World.
As soon as the remnants of Red's Hex fizzled into nothingness, the remaining untouched venipede stopped in their tracks and twitched their antennae in the air. Each pair of insectoid eyes fixed onto Antares and Red—but mostly the latter—as they clicked at each other in confusion. Then, without warning or explanation, they turned and scrambled away from the battlefield, into the black and white of the dead forest.
For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence. And then, a slow clapping—but not from Geist or the pokémon. Door and Geist turned quickly to see Hilda, N, and Elesa standing behind them. Hilda kept on clapping as she strode forward.
"Now that was a battle," she said. "Nice job, all of you. Especially you, Mr. Yamask and Mr. Pansear."
Antares swung himself off the branch and landed neatly on Geist's shoulder. With a hoot, the pansear perched and let his master pet him on the head. At the same time, Door could feel Red's presence next to her, and she turned her head slightly to see him gazing at her with curiosity. She gave him an awkward smile and held up a hand, and in response, he pressed his own into her palm, sending a chill down her arm and into the rest of her body.
Shuddering, Door said, "Y-yeah, well, it was nothing. Kinda surprised it ended like that, though."
As if to answer her question, the yamask hummed and blinked at her. N stiffened and started forward, his eyes fixed on the spirit. When he got close enough, he reached a hand towards the pokémon, but when his hand got within inches of Red's mask, Red whirled towards him, smacked his hand away, and gave him a dangerous glare. Yet N didn't seem bothered by this; rather, he smiled at Door for the first time ever, an act that sent another shiver down her spine.
"I can hear your pokémon's voice clearly," he said. "He grew curious of you when he first saw you in Relic Castle, but now, part of him feels as if he needs to do everything he can to see you succeed." He glanced at Door. "He trusts you already. That's impressive."
Door shifted her gaze from Red to N and back to Red. The yamask responded to her confused expression with a hum while scrunching up his eyes in what Door thought might have been a smile. She shifted on her feet awkwardly.
"Uh, right," she said. "Anyway, what're you doing here?"
Hilda put her hands on her hips. "Bringing Zekrom up to speed. According to N, Zappy's concerned but not entirely worried. Can't be too surprised by that, though. That dragon's been with me for fifty years now, and it's had enough poképuffs to know what's what when it comes to the two of us. It wouldn't just leave me, and Team Matrix's got another thing coming to them if they think they'll overpower me and catch good ol' Zappy!"
"Wait," Door said, her eyebrows furrowing. "You mean to tell me you brought Zekrom out, and I missed it?!"
Geist frowned. "And you call the dragon of ideals Zappy?"
Hilda waved a hand in the air. "Don't worry, kid! Zappy and I agree that you're not quite ready to talk to it yet. That's what we were talking about: whether or not the two of you should meet. Sad to say, nope, in Zekrom's infinite wisdom, it's decided not to do it unless the time's exactly right. But who am I to talk about whether or not you're worthy enough to meet a legendary pokémon?"
At that, Hilda swung her eyes towards Elesa, who sauntered towards Door. When she was within feet of the young trainer, she turned her gaze towards her and crossed her arms.
"Well, young lady," she said, "I've seen the way you battle, and I think it's electrifying."
Behind her, Hilda's expression shifted into an apologetic smile. Elesa, however, didn't seem to notice. She only tilted her head a little and gave Door the most dazzling grin the girl had ever seen.
"You still have quite some ways to go in terms of strength," Elesa continued, "but I'm still interested in seeing what you can do. I accept your challenge. Not tomorrow, though. I want you to relax and prepare. Let's make it the day after. 10 am. You know where the official gym is, right?"
Geist nodded. "Don't worry, ma'am. I know the way."
"Good," she replied. "Can't wait to see you there, Miss Hornbeam. I expect only your best." Turning slightly, she lifted her chin to eye Hilda and N. "Hilda. N. Pleasure seeing you again. Let me know how this adventure of yours develops. I don't look forward to fighting yet another criminal organization, but if that's what it comes down to, I'll be ready when you need me."
With that, Elesa turned away completely and walked down the path, the tails of her faux fur coat trailing behind her. Even through the coat, Door could see just a hint of the woman's figure and grace, and she couldn't help but feel her heartbeat race in response to both, right up until Elesa disappeared through the trees.
Beside her, Hilda chuckled. "Elesa gets that response from everyone," she said.
Door shook her head vigorously, then blushed upon realizing what Hilda meant. "I … I don't know what you're talking about! This is just normal, garden-variety respect, you know?!"
Hilda hid her mouth behind the back of her hand and guffawed. "Anyway, N, I'm glad that out of all the gym leaders from way back when, she and Cheren are the ones who haven't died or retired. I can't imagine what someone like Clay would've done to you if he knew all this was happening again. Or that you were back in town, for that matter."
"Indeed," N said dryly. "Speaking of which, we should get going ourselves. We have other gym leaders to talk to if things keep going the way they are now."
With a frown of her own, Hilda slid her hands back onto her hips and sighed. "Mood killer, but … can't argue with you there."
"Right," he said. "Door. Continue treating your pokémon well. If they trust you this much, then that says quite a bit about you as a trainer, and you'll be relying on them later."
"Um, okay," Door muttered.
N gave her one last, steady glance, then turned and started down the path in the same direction that Elesa had taken. Hilda lingered behind, giving Door another apologetic look.
"Don't worry about him," she said. "It's nothing personal. He's just a little on edge because all of this Team Matrix stuff is digging up bad memories for him. You understand, right?"
Door shook her head. "Not really."
"Well, don't worry about that, either," Hilda said with a grin. "Hey, you've grown up a little since I last saw you, you know? I don't know if it's because your audino and your yamask are real or if you're just getting used to being surrounded by machines, but the way you worked together with your Companion was something else. Nice touch, by the way, getting him set up so he can battle with you. Haven't thought much about getting one myself, but if Companions work like that, maybe I should look into it. N's gotta do his own thing after this is all over anyway, and I'm starting to get used to company."
The trainer blinked at her. "Um."
As if unaware of her discomfort, Hilda placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Point is, keep up the good work. And you…!" She turned her eyes towards Geist. "Keep an eye on her."
Geist smirked. "Always, Miss King."
"Hilda," she groaned as she turned away. "Miss King's way too formal for me. Anyway, gotta run! Door, Geist, I'm sure I'll be seeing you both around."
She strode away, quickly catching up with N. Her partner gave her a quick look, and together, the two marched onward and vanished between the trees.
Then, at last, the forest was quiet again. Door thought about what Hilda had said, turning each word over in her mind until she settled on a few in particular. Beside her, Geist coughed into his fist and waited, right up until he finally got the response he had been anticipating.
"Red is real?!" Door yelled.
The yamask bobbed beside her with an inquisitive glance, and Geist flashed her a soft smile.
"Of course he is," Geist replied. "It would be rather tacky of Halcyon Labs to create a yamask fauxkémon, you know, what with its rumored connection to the dead."
"And you knew?!" Door snapped.
"Yes." He folded his hands behind his back and started down the path. "Now come along, Door. Our hour is almost up, and I doubt you'd like to have a search party sent out for you."
Door growled and jogged to catch up with Geist. "Fine, but tonight, you and I are gonna have a long, long conversation about your tendency to be all coy or whatever."
Geist grinned at her. "Coy? Is that what Dr. Fennel called me?"
As they continued down the path—Door bickering with Geist and all three of Door's pokémon following closely behind—none of the group noticed another dream bubble floating lazily through the trees behind them. Slowly, it drifted, curling around trunks and under branches, until it came to a hovering stop where the first bubble had popped. There, it popped, and a rainbow of colored lights danced across the clearing.
Little by little, the colors faded, and beneath them, a tuft of bright, green grass burst through the ash.
—
FILE NAME: ERATO
AUTHOR: Lanette Hamilton
NOTES: From the audio research notes of Lanette Hamilton. Transcript only; sound file has been lost. File transcribed by Bebe Larson.
LANETTE: Project Galatea, mass production notes, day 67. Well, on the negative side, my relationship with Devon Corporation has been terminated. On the positive side, Steven has convinced his father to settle with Halcyon Labs, rather than outright sue us before we really got off the ground. Also on the positive side, despite everything—particularly Jasper Stone's admittedly justifiable outrage—Steven has given me his blessing to use the components I'd commissioned from his team on further experiments for the Companions series. Brigette is convinced this isn't a good sign, and Zero-One warns me to be careful, but that's what the legal team is for, right?
In any case, I can't worry about that now. Now that I don't have to keep consulting Devon, I'm free to develop Companions as I see fit. For one, I've decided to go back and revisit my Calliope designs in order to see if they can be improved upon. Calliope is sturdy, but I feel that if her skeletal system matched the density of a human's as close as possible, that could increase maneuverability and dexterity, thus leading to a far more efficient Companion on the field. That and a lighter chassis could be less of a strain on the battery packs, which means, basically, that a lightweight Companion will be far better suited to long periods between pokémon centers.
Initial testing has not been positive, actually. While a Calliope core setup works in a lighter chassis, the heat output of such a configuration, well, melts the chassis. And the cores themselves. And while I've designed a better fan system that might be a bit more efficient at bringing down the cores' output, the lighter units actually aren't as energy-efficient as I had hoped they would be, and regardless, the chassis itself just isn't durable enough for long-distance traveling, especially through the wilderness. In other words, I'm afraid that unless I can come up with a better material composition for the chassis, any unit that uses a lightweight skeleton will be strictly for domestic purposes.
But I'm not one to let a good subject go to waste. The result of these tests actually works fine when not put under a major amount of stress, and her core configuration makes her rather pleasant. With the right adjustments, she may be perfect for Halcyon's marketing team, if not simply for households who prefer a more conversational Companion.
I've named her Erato, after the muse of love poetry.
[pause]
Don't read too much into it.
[end recording]